F-150 vs. new Tundra

[780]

Toyota was never a thought when I bought my truck. The new body style just doesn't look good, and dropping the v8 was probably not a good idea on their part.

Ram dropped the V8 in the 1500's for 2025 too. Top engine now is the Hurricane Twin Turbo I-6.

Funny, Ram was crossed off my list when I was shopping in 2022 cause all they had was a V8.

My previous truck was a 5.0 and I wanted a Twin Turbo 6 for towing duties.

It was between the Tundra and F150 with the Ford winning out (obviously)

Had Ram had the Hurricane option in 2022, I probably would've bought the Ram over the Ford.

Not sure why Ram and Toyota can't offer a choice of TT V6 and a V8 like Ford does.

Nice to have a choice of engine. I wonder if Ram will lose some customers because of this.

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[wayfarer556]

I've been on the Tundras forums following their truck pretty closely and I have the following observations (these are my own)

1. The Tundra's powertrain was designed from the ground up to be a Hybrid platform, and the non-hybrid trucks run fine...but the 3.4 Twin Turbo has to deal with more load and is more susceptible to the Engine go boom issues we've been hearing about.

2. Those issues seem to have been largely (though not 100%) resolved in late 2023 models.

3. Turbo failures happened in early 2022 - early 2023 models. Those appear to be be largely resolved in late 2023.

4. Fit/finish complaints are around. Toyota likely sourcing cheaper parts than usual for trim. I feel that you have probably a similar chance to have in cabin door rattles as you would with an F-150.

5. The undercarriages are immacuate and have what looks like great anti-rust coatings out of the factory. I wish F-150s did this.

6. They perform fine as a truck. In fact, the people who are doing actual truck thing report that the new Tundra is far better behaved over the old V8 when it comes to hauling and towing. Something eco-boost F-150 owners have known for many years at this point.

7. Transmission issues happen but I don't see nearly the complaints about the 10 speed for the Toyota that our F-150 gets

8. There's less cabin space, just straight up. Especially the Hybrid, where the battery occupies all the underseat storage in the backseat.

9. The technology in on par with what you'd expect with any modern truck.

10. The hybrid models are not really tuned for efficiency.

11. There's been complaints about how the transmission cannot handle a lot of stress in 4 wheel high mode, as in it gets saturated with heat and goes into limp mode. This is a non-hybrid model were this was reported. People are saying that 4 Lo is the solution, however I've never heard of an F-150 oversaturating the transmission for longer term 4-Hi.

Long term reliability, the jury is still out. Remember that forums are not really the best source of information.

Overall, I feel that the Tundra is competitive with the F-150 in some ways, not competitive in others. It's also my opinion that if you want it to be old school Toyota reliability, ironically the Hybrid model is probably the best way to go. Unfortunately, there's some big penalties (add about 7-10k just for the privilege....minimum trim for hybrid is the Limited) for going the Hybrid route and you don't even get pro power. I really think that passing on Pro-Power was a very short sighted move on Toyota's part. I wonder if the rumored refresh will rectify that.

If the F-150 could resolve its transmission issues (I've read that they've refreshed the trans for the 2024 refresh to resolve some very long standing issues with lurching transmission..is that true?), I think it could close the reliability gap enough to where the Tundra is just simply not a competitive option for real work.

 

[Calson]

The Ford 2.7 engine has long been noted to go into shutdown with no warning. I suspect that it overheated and the shutdown was done to protect the turbo unit. I went with the 3.5L for this reason as it has been more reliable for its owners.

 

[WalterMitty]

I wouldn't buy a Tundra not much on foreign vehicles. I did like the Rams but couldn't get past the turn knob for a gear selector. Did look at the Chevy but went with the F-150 instead. The Ford has more power and doesn't seem to have the problems with the vvt like Chevy. I've always been a Ford person anyways since I was younger. Toyota was never a thought when I bought my truck. The new body style just doesn't look good, and dropping the v8 was probably not a good idea on their part.

Back in 2022 I tried hard to buy my 3rd Tundra. I was excited that the 3rd Gen was going to offer a standard bed with the 4 real doors. The 2nd Gen made you take a short bed. It was one of the reason I held onto my 1st Gen so long….2006 with about 220,000 trouble free miles.

I ended up ordering a 2023 Tremor in August of 2022 instead of getting another Tundra for these reasons….

• Toyota put a new (for the Tundra) turbo 6 in their truck
• The dealership where I had been a loyal customer was jerking me around. Didn’t have what I wanted on the lot, said that they might be able to get what I wanted, but that it would come with about $5k of add ons that I didn’t want, and wouldn’t even give me a price, but that it would be over MSRP.
• Ford decided to offer a Tremor with a V8
• I found out about Granger doing -3% off Invoice

If my local Toyota dealer would have played ball, I would have rolled the dice with the new V6 Turbo, but I’m really glad I didn’t. Now I still had to deal with the short bed with the Tremor, but so far it hasn’t bitten me in the butt…yet.

After a year of ownership, I’m still real happy with my truck.…and already thinking my next one might have to be a F250.

 

[Smokewagun]

The new front end on the Turd for some reason reminds me of Darla from Finding Nemo. Guy in town has one in the UGLIEST shade of an Earl Scheib green. Tried to make it foresty, but got pastel. Yuk!

 

[Henfield]

I'm surprised that the Tundra nose remains so friggin ugly. All it takes is a look at the tundra forums to learn about problems. Like seizing engines, never ending subscriptions yada yada yada

 

[Abraham5G]

The Tundra vs F-150 thread on the Tundras forum is the most popular thread on that forum.
https://www.tundras.com/threads/2022-tundra-vs-2022-f-150-opinion.98975/page-212#post-3581488

Pros of Tundra over F-150:
Full sliding rear window
Extra thigh support on Platinum trim
Bigger 14" screen
Ventilated rear seats available
Screen in rearview mirror available

Cons of Tundra vs F-150
Subjective, but ugly as hell from the front
No flat rear floor
Automatic start shuts off when you open the door
Quality issues like Platinum badging on doors falling off, drivers side seat support keeps breaking, and window seals that don't go the full length of the window
No easy way to get into the bed unless you get the optional pop out step
Smaller 8" screen standard
Analog gauge cluster standard
No massaging seats available
No hands-free driving available

 

[780]

never ending subscriptions yada yada yada

I forgot about that. When I was pursuing a '22, I was told I'd end up having to pay $10 per month to use the remote start on the keyfob after my free trial was up. That was something else that led me to choosing the F150.

The Tundra vs F-150 thread on the Tundras forum is the most popular thread on that forum.
https://www.tundras.com/threads/2022-tundra-vs-2022-f-150-opinion.98975/page-212#post-3581488

Pros of Tundra over F-150:
Full sliding rear window
Extra thigh support on Platinum trim
Bigger 14" screen
Ventilated rear seats available
Screen in rearview mirror available

Cons of Tundra vs F-150
Subjective, but ugly as hell from the front
No flat rear floor
Automatic start shuts off when you open the door
Quality issues like Platinum badging on doors falling off, drivers side seat support keeps breaking, and window seals that don't go the full length of the window
No easy way to get into the bed unless you get the optional pop out step
Smaller 8" screen standard
Analog gauge cluster standard
No massaging seats available
No hands-free driving available

Meh. Fords are having quality issues as well. So, I'd call that a draw.

But totally agree on no flat floor, no bed ingress and small screen.

Those as well as that I could not option tow mirrors (Canada - no tow mirrors available below Platinum and Platinum's all come with tow mirrors...WTH Toyota?) and was stuck with a 3:31 axle ratio, also led me to go back to F150's.

Never knew about the auto start shut off - but yeah, that's dumb.

I have a 302a so combo Analog / digital. No massaging seats or hands free with either truck.

 

[Henfield]

I have a 302a so combo Analog / digital. No massaging seats or hands free with either truck.

Same spec truck as mine. I adjust the lumber on a long run to "massage" the lumber spine a bit.

 

[Calson]

A pet peeve of mine is that with my 2022 F-150 the rear camera view has a very large warning that blocks more than 50% of the screen. With my Chevy truck and Chevy SUV I got a normal view that was very helpful with I had items blocking the normal view of the rearview mirror.

With the F-150 I am 100% dependent on the side mirrors to know what is behind the truck. The only time the cameras are helpful is when parking to compensate for the very poor turning radius of the SuperCrew truck.

My 2022 F-150 has had numerous defects that required one or more trips to the dealer to have fixed. I have had more issues with this one truck than with all the Dodge, Chevy, Willys, and Toyota trucks combined. Quality control is a foreign concept to the people at Ford. Not as bad as with the Jeep vehicles but considerable worse than with GM and Toyota.

 

[780]

A pet peeve of mine is that with my 2022 F-150 the rear camera view has a very large warning that blocks more than 50% of the screen. With my Chevy truck and Chevy SUV I got a normal view that was very helpful with I had items blocking the normal view of the rearview mirror.

Weird. I just used this feature last weekend to keep an eye on a log splitter I rented as I towed it home. There was a warning message, but it didn't take up 50% of my screen.

As a former GM owner, I can assure you their quality is no better than Fords.

 

[HammaMan]

That box warning can be disabled -- it's in the forscan thread.

 

[Calson]

It blocks the area that I want to see which is directly behind the truck. Why is Ford the only company that does this with their vehicles. No such problems with my two Chevy trucks or my Toyota SUV.

One can but a OBD connector and install the Forscan software on a laptop and make the change in a line of code but this is not at all customer friendly. It should be a setting that a owner can change easily.

It is the little stuff that is a PITA. I rented a Jeep Cherokee and the user needed to go into a menu structure and select fans and then make a change to the fan speed and this is not safe to do while driving. The user interface has not improved over the years to cope with the LCD displays and digital controls. Evidently it is not a priority for the manufacturers.

 

[DougNuts]

I just took spent a week (and about 2700 miles) in my brother's 2023 Tundra, so I feel I can chime in on this thread. Last Friday, we did 19hrs and 1250 miles in one day.

His truck is a 4-door short bed, fully optioned SR5 TRD Sport. The Sport sits about an inch lower and has 20" wheels. His truck is not hybrid.

He bought his at Thanksgiving last year and I bought my 2023 F150 in January of this year.

The Pros:
-Interior materials are good and fit and finish is great. There were no squeaky plastic trim pieces like the F150 has.
-Excellent fuel economy. One concern I had with the Tundra was reports of poor fuel economy. Much to my surprise, we averaged mid-19's for the whole trip, including many miles above 75mph. In my experience, a shift in wind direction could have changed that substantially, but that's what we got.
-The ride quality is phenomenal.
-Plenty of power, particularly on the highway.
-The roll down rear window is nice.
-Review mirror camera - we have this on my wife's RAV4 and I like it a lot. My wife does not.
-The transmission is super smooth and always seemed to be in the correct gear.


The Cons:
-The radio's software is hard to navigate and not as intuitive as the F150.
-The interior feels a bit snug.
-No 120V or 12V for the second row.
-The 120V inverter needs to be turned on manually each time the truck is started. Since we had a plug-in refrigerator riding in the bed, this was an annoyance and easy to forget.
-We don't believe there is any way to observe what gear you're in, or to manually lock out gears.
-Ground Clearance is low - Granted, he has the "street" version (which sits 1" lower) but his tail pipe was a full 4.25" lower than my truck.
-Metal body panels feel cheap and flimsy, because they are so thin.

 

[Samson16]

The Tundra vs F-150 thread on the Tundras forum is the most popular thread on that forum.
https://www.tundras.com/threads/2022-tundra-vs-2022-f-150-opinion.98975/page-212#post-3581488

Pros of Tundra over F-150:
Full sliding rear window
Extra thigh support on Platinum trim
Bigger 14" screen
Ventilated rear seats available
Screen in rearview mirror available

Cons of Tundra vs F-150
Subjective, but ugly as hell from the front
No flat rear floor
Automatic start shuts off when you open the door
Quality issues like Platinum badging on doors falling off, drivers side seat support keeps breaking, and window seals that don't go the full length of the window
No easy way to get into the bed unless you get the optional pop out step
Smaller 8" screen standard
Analog gauge cluster standard
No massaging seats available
No hands-free driving available

? They left out a few things like slower, poorer mpg numbers, lack of 240V/30A service for the hybrid.

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